This double CD is an exhaustive compendium of the activity of Finnish musician E. Hereticius (Emil Paavola) with the moniker Funerium. This time there’s no trick, there’s no deception, the name refers in an absolutely coherent way to the proposed genre, that is a funeral doom performed with competence and good quality, as it’s always produced in the nation that has seen the first vagaries. E. Hereticius takes all the best of the fertile scene, starting of course from Thergothon to go to a misanthropic interpretation of Colosseum, rather than in the atmospheric matrix prerogative of Skepticism or Shape Of Despair. The nature of one man band inevitably makes it more minimal sound as a whole, but not so obvious as it often happens at similar junctures, so that Cvltvs Deorvm Aliorvm (full length dating back to 2012) and Nihil In Omnino Nvsqvam (ep released in the same year) prove satisfactory in their sound (in fact, more the first than the second, plagued by some too much sizzle). The work is a claustrophobic tour de force of over two hours, which sees its peak in the long The End – MMXII, a track that shows in an eloquent way another illustrious influence, this time extra Finnish, as that of the Germans Worship. A compilation of this workmanship, enriched in the second CD by the bonus track From Infinity To Oblivion, a song that dates back to about a decade ago and then published in 2007 under the moniker Bastard Ov Bethlehem, should obviously be taken in small doses, given its length, but it certainly shows more than one reason for interest to that handful of fans who feeds on these sounds pachydermic, perhaps anachronistic, and hopelessly fascinating.

2016 – Endless Winter